9/16/2009 @ 6:00PM

Ten Questions For Big Stage

What is the hardest challenge your company has faced to date? Have you overcome it? If so, specifically how?

We have had to solve some very difficult technological problems to launch Big Stage. These were not typical engineering challenges where one might use a new approach to solve a well-known problem, or enhance the performance of a well-understood process using clever algorithms. Up until a year before we launched, many experts in the fields of computer vision and computer graphics thought it impossible to do what we have done. We had to make stereoscopic reconstruction of a human face possible with a single monocular-lens camera.

This means that we have had to make very precise measurements and estimate very precise angles using computer-vision software with absolutely no special hardware. And on top of that, we have had to solve some very difficult problems to make each unique geometry fit neatly into a complete, fully animated avatar. It took many man-years from a team of Ph.D.s and other computer vision and computer graphics experts, but we have solved these problems and launched a very sophisticated product that any person of any age with any digital camera can enjoy.

Which company/entrepreneur do you model your business after and why?

There are two businesses we’ve looked at and tried to emulate where possible:

–Adobe Flash has achieved a massive installed base by adding value to other people’s content and other people’s Web sites. They have then leveraged that installed base to develop new business models and expand their influence. In many ways, that is what we are trying to do.

–Cyworld has built a multi-hundred-million-dollar business based on micro-transactions, primarily centered around avatars and virtual environments. This is the exact ecosystem we are trying to build and leverage to grow our business.

What is the riskiest decision you have had to make thus far? What specifically did you learn?

We made a decision, early in our business lifecycle, to produce a major promotion for the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s Thriller release. What made this risky is that the release needed to be launched well before our core product was ready for the market. In the end, we wound up actually launching the company a full eight months after this promotion. As a function of making this commitment, we had to develop a clever way to automatically composite and render our final videos on the server, as our core client-based “Player” technology would not be ready by then. As it turned out, we are now migrating our entire strategy to support fast server compositing and rendering, a concept that began as we stretched to hit the Thriller deadline (which we successfully hit). One key lesson from that project was that sometimes when you create unmovable deadlines for yourself, it can lead to unexpected creativity and invention.

How many hours a week do you work? What takes up the most time? What do you wish you had more time to do?

Sixty-five hours, plus or minus. I spend most of my time processing information from both customers and employees, making sure everything that is happening fits into strategies and schedules we have laid out, and making sure nothing is falling through the cracks. I wish I had more time to spend with customers and new prospects.

What is the best part about being an entrepreneur? The worst?

–The best: Everything we’re doing has a direct impact on our business, and that our day to day job involves constant creative and strategic challenges. There is never a dull moment, and we get an enormous sense of satisfaction whenever we hit a milestone or achieve something meaningful.

–The worst: the constant need to raise capital. While this need creates business discipline and requires us to constantly evaluate our business through the eyes of other very bright people, it is also a tremendous expenditure of time.

Are you currently looking for funding? If so, how much and for what purposes, specifically?

We are not raising financing in the U.S. right now, although we are in the process of establishing a joint venture in Asia for which we are raising capital. We are raising between $4 million and $6 million to establish a presence in Asia, expand our product development capabilities, and aggressively penetrate the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese markets, which are well beyond the U.S. market in terms of incorporating custom avatars and micropayments into their mainstream videogame and online community business.

Are you hiring and specifically for what areas?

We are looking to hire a general manager for our new entity in China, and will shortly be hiring a sales and marketing team and a product development team in China as well.

What uncommonly good advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

–Make sure you set goals that you know can achieve in the short term–don’t embark on 12-month engineering efforts with no intermittent deliverable results.

–Make sure that achieving your short term goals puts you in a position to accomplish the next key milestones for your company.

–Communicate often but very concisely to your board.

–Under-promise, over-deliver.

What is your ultimate goal (to change the world, to go public, to put your kids in business, etc.)?

We want to digitize humanity–everyone should have a digital version of themselves to interact/work/play online, and the Big Stage Avatar Platform will be the vehicle through which they create, stylize, dress and accessorize their digital selves.

What specifically did you learn about your business from taking the America’s Most Promising Companies survey?

The survey required us to review everything we’ve done for the past three years with a critical eye. When you’re inventing new technology, building highly complex products and creating new markets from scratch, nothing happens as quickly as you would like and it can be easy to grow impatient with yourself. But when you look at all we’ve accomplished in the past three years, from intellectual property secured to products developed to business won and executed, we’re very proud of those accomplishments, and the survey has helped us put all of that in perspective.